To Those Who Helped Save My Life...

How do I thank people who saved my life? I am alive today thanks to the Loma Linda University Life Support Education department and the Loma Linda Fire Department. Let me explain. It was 103 degrees on October 1, 2012 and I was 33 years old. I had just clocked from work and was in the parking lot waiting for the shuttle to take me to my car. It was there, on this hot unseasonably hot afternoon, that I collapsed. My heart stopped, literally, as I experienced full cardiac arrest. A co-worker called 911 as I lay on the asphalt. Not long after I collapsed, and before any emergency personnel arrived, a dental resident came walking down the same parking lot and found me on the asphalt. Coincidentally, at about the same time, someone called out to a doctor working in a nearby building and she, too, quickly arrived on the scene. It was my lucky day because the dental resident also volunteers as a CPR instructor with Life Support Education at Loma Linda University so together, he and the medical doctor, quickly determined that I needed CPR and as soon as possible! They performed 3 rounds of CPR until the Loma Linda Fire and Paramedics arrived to take over. I later found out that the paramedics performed CPR off and on for 15-20 minutes and defibrillated me multiple times. They said my heart would begin beating and would then stop. It would begin to beat and then it would stop. The details of what happened in the following hours, weeks, and months don’t seem to matter, 2 years later. I’m alive and living with basically zero deficiencies and I truly believe the reasons are, in large part, because of the CPR skills and training made possible through the Life Support Education Department at Loma Linda University AND because of the care provided by the Loma Linda Fire Department. How do I thank people who saved my life? There are no words or actions that will ever be enough but I continue to try because I know of no other way. Not a day goes by that I don’t realize what a gift I was given on that hot afternoon. Every 6 months since the day I received CPR, I try to acknowledge those who were so instrumental in saving my life. The 2 year anniversary was Oct. 1 and it just doesn’t seem enough to again say ‘thank you’ to these people. This year I’d like to publically say ‘thanks’ so that all these departments will receive a small piece of recognition for their dedication to saving my life and the lives of people like me.